


The Dark Lantern

by TheCarmineWanker



Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25312744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCarmineWanker/pseuds/TheCarmineWanker
Summary: The beast had to come from somewhere
Kudos: 23





	The Dark Lantern

The edelwood trees had always existed, long before the Beast ever did. They were a fundamental part of the Unknown, at least as much as anything else. The Unknown is just that- unknown. Its entire identity and existence are built on the concept of being undiscovered, not understood, and wholly alien to those who are not from there and, sometimes, even to those who are. Thus, it is only natural that it has a way of dealing with those who wander in and get lost. After all, in a place as wild and unpredictable as the Unknown, knowing is very important. It is crucial for anyone in there to know things- who they are, where they are, where they are going, etc. At the very least, one must know one of these things. 

The problem lies in the fact that, once someone is lost in one of these ways, the rest have a tendency to follow soon after. It is when all is lost that the forest claims them as their own and gives them answers to all those questions- they are now trees, they are in that particular spot of the forest, and they aren’t really going anywhere. It is one of the main ways that the Unknown fixes itself. Now, the edelwood trees are all the product of the original edelwood- a massive tree right in the middle of the Unknown. Just as the lesser edelwoods hold souls, the original tree holds the very soul of the Unknown and, therefore, is very important.

Now, a good long while ago, there was a young man who was unfortunate enough to get lost in the Unknown, like so many before him. He was traveling one night, with only a lantern and the light of the moon to guide him. As he made his way through the woods, he came across a wolf and, spooked, ran away as fast as he could. There were many problems with this that led to the subsequent events of this evening: his vision was impaired since it was nighttime, he was in the forest, so there were plenty of roots and rocks and things to trip over, and he was running. Naturally, he tripped.

That, in and of itself, normally would only be an issue if the wolf had actually noticed him and chased him, which it hadn’t, but, as it was, there were other problems to be had. See, he had tripped on the root of that massive tree I previously mentioned and, when he did, his lantern fell and caught the tree on fire. After all, the trees are full of oil and, even if it has magical properties, it is still oil and the trees are still wood. As such, the tree was encased in flames in a matter of seconds.

Remember the part about the Unknown fixing itself? Well, in this case, the young man became the new spirit and his soul was bound to the lantern, relying on the oil of the edelwoods to keep it lit. A curse that was a most suitable punishment for the crime committed, to be sure. Not to mention that, really, the lost souls of the edelwoods didn’t need to be kept there, they could just as easily be burned and banished from existence. They were lost, after all.

He was the one who became known as the Beast, singing in the woods and luring children to their doom. He haunted the woods long enough that, by the time of his end, the tree had grown back. Oh, and, naturally, his demise was by no means accidental, however much the events that led to it may seem that way. After all, the Unknown has a way of fixing itself and, when it no longer had any need for the Beast, it just brought in two children and orchestrated his end. 


End file.
